Morrison's+Influence+on+her+Characters+in+Beloved

Matt Don April 6, 2008 Period 7

Beloved, by Toni Morrison, is a story of a mother and her two daughters. It is based around slavery and took place in the 1870's during the reconstruction of the confederacy. The mother, Sethe, had to kill one of her daughters, Beloved, so that she could protect her from slavery. She later had another daughter, Denver, when she was freed from slavery. Later on the old daughter came back to her as a ghost, but was in human form. Each of these three main characters are African Americans, showing that Morrison has an automatic relationship to them. In the novel “Beloved,” Morrison uses her characters to portray her racial beliefs. In Kirwan’s criticism, she shows that Denver comes to form her own opinion of African Americans. Kirwan states “Denver asks Beloved to describe the place she stayed in before coming to 124.” Beloved responds with how her experience was, “dark and hot. Nothing to breathe down there and no room to move” (Holden-Kirwan, 1998). She forms her own opinions about how slavery was for Beloved “on the slave ship” and how it must have felt to be on the ship. Denver constantly asks Beloved about her past and what she has gone through. This gives an understanding to the concept of slavery and to what her heritage is. Denver struggles through the whole story to understand where her family came from and what it must have felt like to be a slave. She could not grasp the concept of why Sethe did what she did to her daughter due to the fact that she was not a slave her self and was born free. Daniel illustrates how Sethe forms her opinion on African Americans as she is impacted by slavery. She states that “death by their mother’s hand held more compassion for her children than did slavery” (Daniel, 2000). This shows how much slavery affected Sethe mentally and physically in her life. If she believed that killing her own children was better than sending them into slavery, she had a strong, passionate, hate for slavery. Sethe was going to do everything in her power to prevent Beloved from being put into slavery, and she succeeded in doing so. Sethe constantly battles to decide if what she did was justified or not because she wishes it could have been different for her daughter. She believes that it was not a fair situation for her to have to choose between her daughter’s life or her daughter’s life put into slavery. Since Sethe comes to despise slavery, she felt like she made the best possible decision that she could have. White supports how Beloved describes her racial beliefs throughout the course of the novel. She tells Denver all of her experiences concerning “slavery.” She brings back terrible memories for Sethe, about her murdered daughter. She also represents a painful and destructive past of slavery. “Beloved stands as a monument to those who might otherwise be forgotten” (Fuston-White, 2002). This statement shows how White believed Beloved was a symbol in the story, for a life that was forgotten, and was taken by slavery. Morrison wants to show how slavery should not be forgotten, but even more importantly how the lives that were taken by slavery, should always be remembered. White tries to show Beloved’s thoughts and emotions towards slavery and her heritage by her actions toward Denver and Sethe. This can be seen as Beloved talks to Denver about where she has been and what she has been through. Also when she brings back up the memories that Sethe has kept repressed for numerous years. Throughout the novel Toni Morrison expresses her emotions toward slavery through the characters she chose. She illustrates it through Denver coming to understand slavery and what happened between her mother and her sister. She demonstrates it through Sethe and how she chose to kill her own daughter to prevent her from being a part of slavery. Finally, through Beloved when she explains to Denver her emotions about slavery and when she brings up bad memories for Sethe. Morrison does an excellent job in portraying her beliefs through the character’s actions and thoughts. It makes the story that much more exciting and eventful to read.

__ References __ Daniel, J (2000). Function or Frill. //The Midwest Quarterly//, //41.3//, 321. Fuston-White, J (2002). From the Seen to the Told. //African American Review//, //36.3//, 461. Holden-Kirwan, J (1998). Looking Into the Self That is No Self. //African American Review//, //32.n3//, 415. Morrison, T (1988). //Beloved//. New York, NY: First Plume Printing.